Metal Review – Blackwolfgoat – Dronolith (2011)

Blackwolfgoat is the solo project from ex-Hackman/Milligram guitarist Darryl Shepard. He sets forth an ambient metal / drone metal type sound on both the debut release and the 2011 release, Dronolith. While Dronolith’s sound mimics a lot of what Dragonwizardsleeve did, it does add some progressiveness into the mix.

I will warn you ahead of time, you need to be in the mood for something simplistic and ambient to listen to this release. If you want blastbeats or wailing guitars, look elsewhere. It you are looking for a nice drone metal, repetitive mix, then check out Blackwolfgoat – Dronolith. You will not be disappointed. If you are in the mood, you will just get lost within the guitars’ fuzz and sound effects. You listen to the tracks and just begin to daydream about anything that you could possibly think of. Every once in a while, your mind needs to cleanse itself and a release like Dronolith is a good remedy.

With Dronolith, it gives off an impression that Shepard pretty much wrote the songs on the fly, and for some artists, that method works wonderfully. No parts give the impressions of elaborate, well thought out schemes. The droning riffs are repetitive and monotonous (on purpose). This is experimental music in its most simplistic form.

Please note that this album is a very limited release, so check it out as soon as you can.

BLACKWOLFGOAT is a unique, progressive drone project fully performed by Darryl Shepard (Milligram, Hackman, Slapshot). His new album, Dronolith, hypnotizes the listener 46 minutes of rhythmic, ambient drone rock over the course of its six spacious tracks, recorded live at Amps vs. Ohms Studio by Glenn Smith (Lamont, Raw Radar War, Ichabod) and mastered by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance East. The release will be limited to 100 hand-numbered gatefold digi-sleeve copies, and like BLACKWOLFGOATâ€™s Small Stone Records-released debut, Dragonwizardsleeve, bears cover art by visionary graphic artist Alexander von Wieding (Karma To Burn, Monster Magnet, Trouble, Razor).

Indie label The Maple Forum is the official imprint of popular online stoner/metal portal The Obelisk, who released albums from Roareth and Kings Destroy earlier this year.